Euronews

Disaster is always difficult to take in, but the Oklahoma tornado is all the harder because it was so sudden.

The US National Weather Service had classed the twister with a preliminary ranking of EF4, putting it in the second most powerful category of storm.

Survivor Ricky Stove: “We thought we died because we were inside the cellar door, we locked the cellar door once we saw it coming, it got louder and next thing you know is you see the latching coming undone and we couldn’t reach for it and it ripped open the door and just glass and debris started slamming on us and we thought we were dead to be honest”

The tornado reduced robust buildings to rubble, picking up and tossing aside cars as though they were toys.

Survivor Lando Hite: “When they started flying I just dove in a stall and that’s about the last, I got covered up with some debris and it pushed me in the shed. I was pretty lucky I suppose.”

Hospitals say they are treating almost 60 injured, including a dozen children.

The massive twister struck at the height of tornado season, and more are forecast.